Old Battery

[marioinsight]

My 2001 Insight has 71,000 miles. I've had a lifetime mileage over 60 but in the last few months the battery always seems to want to charge and never tops off. When I accerate the battery does kick in, when I break it does charge but at constant highway speeds the battery is always charging. This has reduced my mileage to about 50.

The Honda dealer says there is nothing wrong but I am not so sure. Any advice?

[b1shmu63]

Welcome to the forum.

The first thing to check is the little 12 volt battery in the engine compartment. If one of the cells has shorted it will put a continuous load on the IMA system. Five years is old for a lead acid battery if you still have the original.

Although not likely related to the type of problem you describe, this would also be a good time to check the 2 ground cables (from the engine to the body) for corrosion and metal fatigue.

[Insightful Trekker]

An IMA reset is usually the best first step of diagnosing a potential IMA problem. It dosen't fix most things, but it can't hurt to try either If your driving style or pattern has change such that your using (Asst) IMA battery SoC (State of Charge) at a rate faster that your replentishing (Chrg) it then a forced charge is a _normal_ consequence. Keeping your headlights on can also help maintain a higher overall IMA SoC

See:

IMA reset proceedure
http://www.insightcentral.net/encyclope ... orage.html
Idling or driving (with the resulting forced charge) is also an option with the above. Combine it with a useful trip and save the gas.

And:

Recals, Forced Charge, IMA Battery & thermal mgmt - long
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=750
for more that you probably want to know about the IMA system.


The main engine ground straps have been causing some Insighters a bit of trouble too (like Kip mentioned ). JackMPG's got a pictorial how to on his website:

http://community.webshots.com/user/jackmpg

HTH!